San Gabriel dig site offers new insight into California history

SAN GABRIEL - California's industrial revolution has its roots in a small grist mill built by an ex-pirate on a 40-acre farm at the San Gabriel Mission, archaeologists said.

Archaeologists working with the Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority have a chance to uncover more information about the story of Chapman's Mill and other important mission and Native American artifacts buried just across the street from today's mission building.

The dig began in December and will continue through mid-March, officials said. Artifacts found so far include a brass religious medallion, a Spanish coin from 1816, tiles, pottery, beads and animal bones.

"This is an unprecedented opportunity for us to delve into the history of San Gabriel and the San Gabriel Valley as a whole," said John Dietler, the lead archaeologist. "Right beneath us are the very roots of Los Angeles."

The mill was finished in 1823 and was built by Boston native Joseph Chapman. He became involved with pirates and was eventually captured by the Spanish and employed as a builder for the California Mission system.

Chapman's Mill was connected by a series of ditches dug by Native American hands that extended to natural springs in the foothills.

Mike Hart, who has an exhibit at the Huntington Library about the mission's water system, said archaeologists excavated the mill site in 1934 but not to its full potential. In 1941, he said, all the debris from the mill was dispersed from the site when a new housing development was built nearby.

"The mill got destroyed when the whole world was distracted by World War II," Hart said. "This will be a much more thorough archaeological dig (than was done before)."

For Dietler, one of the most exciting finds on the dig so far is a 40-foot-by-20-foot adobe structure built in the 1890s. The building does not appear on any mission maps and has only been in one 1856 sketch of the property, Dietler said.

In the center of the structure, which archaeologists believe could have been a work building of some kind, Dietler said excavators discovered a large trash pit that contained many animal bones, glass and pottery fragments, and part of a dog skeleton.

Dietler said the animal and food remains in the trash pit can tell about how the community's eating habits and trading changed over time.

"We've found some unexpected finds," Dietler said. "The food remains are our greatest window into the economy of the community that was here."

The dig offers the opportunity for new information about the region's both Spanish and Native American history, which are closely intertwined.

"It is important for us because it opens doors for us," said Ernie Tautemes, the spiritual leader of the Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians. "Our tribe's history has been lost for some time and they are finding many things here that give us the history again."

Dietler said the current dig site is only a portion of the planned excavation. He said SWCA will also expand further east along the train tracks to the site of the San Gabriel depot for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Archaeologists and Native American groups will also continue monitor the ACE Construction Authority as it digs its 30 foot trench.

Dietler says he hopes to write a book on the group's findings to teach the public about the Native American and Spanish mission history the site brings to the surface.

The dig precedes the construction authority's San Gabriel Trench project, which will lower the railroad tracks into a 30-foot ditch to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow and safety.